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Superior International Junior Hockey League
The Superior International Junior Hockey League is a Tier II Junior "A" ice hockey league based out of the Thunder Bay, Ontario area. The SIJHL is sanctioned under Hockey Northwestern Ontario and Hockey Canada and is a charter member of the Canadian Junior A Hockey League. History Although founded in 2001, the SIJHL is another chapter in a long history of Thunder Bay Junior "A" Hockey. The Fort William War Veterans were the first representatives of the Thunder Bay region, winning the 1922 Memorial Cup as Canadian National Junior "A" Champions. Although there is not abundant information on the subject, the Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League may date back to the War Veterans, and may have existed on-and-off until 1984. From 1984 until 2000, the region (Hockey Northwestern Ontario) was represented by a single team at the Junior "A" level -- the Thunder Bay Flyers. The Flyers played their regular season games in the United States Hockey League, America's Tier I of Junior Hockey, and returned to Canada for the playoffs. The Flyers won the Dudley Hewitt Cup as Central Canadian Junior Champions in 1983, 1988, and 1989. The Flyers were also National Champions in 1989 and 1992, winning the Centennial Cup. The Flyers folded after the 1999-2000 USHL Season. The folding of the Thunder Bay Flyers opened the way for a rebirth of Junior "A" hockey in the Thunder Bay region. The league came back to life under the "Superior International" label in 2001 with 5 teams, including the Thunder Bay Wolves (now the Fort William North Stars), the First Nation Featherman Hawks (now the K&A First Nations Golden Hawks), the Fort Frances Borderland Thunder, and the Dryden Ice Dogs. The current SIJHL includes Fort William, K&A, Dryden, the Thunder Bay Bulldogs, the Schreiber Diesels, and the Bottineau Lumberjacks who play a part time schedule with the league before returning to the US Junior College hockey ranks for the playoffs. Fort Frances is still a part of the league, but went on hiatus for the 2005-06 season. A Junior "B" franchise from Spooner, Wisconsin might make the jump to the SIJHL for the 2006-07 season depending on decisions by Hockey Northwestern Ontario and Hockey Canada. League Commissioner Ron Whitehead, at a banquet in Dryden, Ontario, claimed that the league could easily expand to 8 or 9 teams or slip to 5 in 2006. The financial climate in the Hockey Northwesten Ontario region is not as strong as the Ontario Hockey Association or Ottawa District Hockey Association but seems to be close on par with the small Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League. The league does hope to reach 8 to 10 teams, but may struggle due to financial restrictions. :Article copied verbatim from Wikipedia on July 28, 2006. Copied by the editor who authored it. Member Teams :*Dryden Ice Dogs :*Fort William North Stars :*K&A First Nations Golden Hawks :*Minot State University-Bottineau Lumberjacks :*Schreiber Diesels :*Thunder Bay Bulldogs Bill Salonen Cup Champions :2002 Dryden Ice Dogs :2003 Borderland Thunder :2004 Fort William North Stars :2005 Fort William North Stars :2006 Fort William North Stars Defunct Teams :*Fort Frances Borderland Thunder :*Northwest Wisconsin Knights Also see :*Dudley Hewitt Cup :*Royal Bank Cup :*Thunder Bay Flyers :*Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League :*Thunder Bay Junior B/Juvenile/AAA Hockey League :*Hockey Northwestern Ontario :*Canadian Junior A Hockey League :*Hockey Canada External links :*SIJHL Webpage :*Hockey Northwestern Ontario Webpage Category:Ice hockey leagues